Brazilian PropTech Loft Claims Break Even Reached After Five Years

The Brazilian PropTech unicorn Loft claims that it has reached operational breakeven thanks to leaning into its B2B strategy.

In a statement given to local business publication InvestNews, Loft said that it expects to close out 2023 with a 30% year-on-year increase in revenue and a 300% increase in transaction numbers.

Company CEO, Mate Pencz said that the company's upturn in financial performance was largely attributable to its shift of focus towards providing solutions for Brazilian brokerages and that Loft would double down on its B2B bet in 2024 with its transactional platform, fintech products and an AI-driven price calculator.

Founded in 2018 by Pencz, Florian Hagenbuch and Kristian Huber Loft was originally an iBuyer in the mould of U.S. companies such as Opendoor but has since shifted its business model to become a transactional platform helping agents and brokerages similar to the likes of Beike in China.

Below - Loft's Head of Capital and Strategy, Andreas Scholten explains Loft's journey and business model to Simon Baker at the Global Online Marketplaces Summit in Miami (June 2023).

The company got off to a great start by securing funding from prestigious sources. Attracted by Loft's business model and its founding team's record, (Pencz is a Harvard graduate who had founded a successful printing business with Hagenbuch before founding Loft) the likes of Fifth Wall, Baillie Gifford and Andreessen Horowitz poured nearly $800 million in funding into the Sao Paulo-based startup by April 2021.

The journey to breakeven hasn't been smooth sailing for Loft though. As the company shifted away from iBuying and renovations amid an unforgiving macro-economic backdrop it was forced to cut costs with 855 employees laid off in 2022 with a further 340 people made redundant in March 2023.